Dane Youngren

For most of his life Dane Youngren lived and worked on his family’s dairy farm located near the town of Stanwood, WA. It was there that he developed a passion for farming as well as an interest in building various structures often using reclaimed materials. Dane studied at Washington State University in Pullman, earning my BFA in 2011 and a BS in Agricultural Economics in 2010. Between 2010 and 2011, he worked as an assistant to sculptor Beth Cavener Stichter in her studio in Garfield, Washington. He is currently working in Seattle as an artist in residence at Pottery Northwest.

Dane received a 2012 GAP to help with costs associated with his solo exhibition at the Kolva-Sullivan Gallery in Spokane of a large ceramic railroad trestle that will span up to 36 feet and rest on a wood and steel base. Dane engages with commonplace structures of the built environment which serve transportation, industrial, and other functional purposes. He works in the ceramic medium to create sculptures that call attention to these architectural structures as well as the antithesis of construction—the subsequent destruction and abandonment that comes with obsolete buildings and industrial endeavors.